Tag: conspiracies

One of the benefits of working with a prosopographical database for historical research is being able to find commonalities in large amounts of data hitherto disconnected and, therefore, often unnoticed. A most intriguing example of this within my studies is the discovery that about one-half of the active goldsmiths, or ‘hammermen’, in Edinburgh during and just after the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6 gave evidence against the other half, citing rebellious activities to the government authorities. That the extent of this strange web of blame occurs nowhere else and within no other occupation with such frequency is striking, and while there is no direct evidence yet uncovered that marks this as anything other than a curious coincidence, one gets the feeling that there might be something more to the story.

I beg the favour you will come to my house this day att half an hour after two precisely about a piece of Necessary business. I am Dr Sir Yours Hugh Blair 1

Crown Clerk Henry Masterman, who took 400 Jacobite depositions, expresses his frustration to the Duke of Newcastle after his difficult examinations of the men from the Manchester regiment: ‘most of them Roman Catholicks, & are a Set of ye most hardned Wretches I ever met with…’

We are calling on #poets #artists and #writers to help us mark the 275th anniversary of The '45. Open to children, teenagers and adults, entries in English, #scots or #gaelic. It could make a great #lockdownproject or #homeschooling activity!
Details at http://www.prestonpans275.org/creative-project

About

Little Rebellions is the official research blog for the Jacobite Database of 1745 project. Within it, we explore archival case studies, share technical notes and features, and contribute to the field of Jacobite studies with news, articles, and event announcements within and across the discipline.